Queen of My Heart

18: Auradon VS Wonderland, Croquet Edition

  He just stared at me for a while and asked "Have I met you before?" Alex was completely ignored. A bit rude, but nevertheless, I replied "I believe not."

  "Well, it is never too late to meet someone; hello, my name is Charlemagne Heart, the current King of Wonderland." I believe it was too late to meet your own daughter. So late that you don't even recognise her.

  "My name is Queenie Heart. Nice to meet you." And the King stared at me for some more time. Then his eyes moistened and he pulled me into a hug. "So you must be my daughter that I never got to meet."

  At that, I felt quite miserable too. "Hello, father."

  "Hello, my daughter. I'm sorry that I have never got a chance to meet you. I'm sorry that you had to go through everything that your mother put you through."

  "You know what? It's fine. We can make new memories now. The time has come, to talk of other things- of shoes and ships and sealing wax, and cabbages and kings. And why the sea is boiling hot, and whether pigs have wings." And then I giggled. He was chuckling too. People were staring. I don't think that he laughed often. He wasn't definitely smiling for the split second that I saw him when I bumped into him; his lips were pressed into a very thin line.

  At that moment, I noticed that Lexie had left us. Probably to leave us alone in the very emotional moment. I had to get one thing straight before I started talking to him."Can I call you father?"

  "I thought that was the default?"

  "Oh okay. I have a few questions."

  "Shoot." I thought that he was really cool. Not the exactly stereotypical father and King.

  "First, do you see Alex anywhere? I think I need to find him and apologise. Also ask him whether I can cancel the croquet match with the King- or the King of Auradon."

  "Do you have a croquet match? It's the national sport of Wonderland! I can't just let this slide. We have to do a 2 on 2. The respective Kings and their children versus the other team!"

  "Okay then, we'll walk over to the pitch while talking." And we started walking over. I grabbed our drinks that Lexie and I originally came over for.

  "If I get straight to the point, mother would like to talk to you."

  He actually looked a bit scared. "Do you know why?"

  "She just said to get an opportunity to talk to you. I need you to please talk to her. She just said one conversation. Can you spare not even 3 hours of your time to go over to the Isle of the Lost for one conversation with your abandoned wife and the mother of your child? Please?"

  "Why do you want me to talk to her so badly?"

  "I think that she might have something up her sleeve, but if I don't; she said that she would.. She would..."

  "I understand. You don't have to say it."

  "Thank you." We arrived and ran over to Alex. I positioned myself in him so that his arms were on my arms, wrapped somewhat protectively around me.

  "Should I be concerned about a potential boyfriend? Come on, it's too early, don't make me be the 'protective father' already!"

  "He's not my boyfriend!"

  "She's not my girlfriend!" We yelled at the same time. Father just raised an eyebrow and sighed. "Yeah, and your mother and I are not married." King Beast spotted us and ran over to us. Queen Belle was already talking to Mal and Ben. We played a few rounds and I realised that I sucked, so I let the 'men' do their sports and went off to find Torri.

  After searching for a while, I noticed Torri, Mrs. Tiana and Mr. Naveen, Torri's parents. We had a polite chat. I liked them. They were good for each other and balanced the work and play very well in their respective lives. I liked that they were able to work diligently when they had to and party when they could.

  When I was going back with Torri to the field, I met Flynn. He also introduced me to his parents, Mrs. Rapunzel and Mr. Eugene. They were also nice people. Flynn really took after his mother in terms of his hair, somewhat baby face, eyes and his general personality, such as curiosity and his drawing skills. I could see where he gets the charm from. His charisma, charm and adventurousness was clearly from his father. I hoped that he wouldn't grow a beard, though. He probably would look weird. I made small talk with his parents too.

  I finally made my way back to the croquet field and I saw Queen Leah yelling at Mal. "A chance to what, Ben? Destroy us? Come on. You remember, don't you? The poison apples. And the spells. Spells. My daughter... Was raised by fairies because of your mother's curse. So her first words, her first steps, I missed it all! You mustn't trust her."

  I had to do something. Call it my impulsiveness from my mother's side. "I'm sorry to make this situation about me, and I am really sorry about your daughter, but all my life, I was raised by the Queen of Hearts, a famous psychopath. I was raised by a deranged woman because, from what I hear, the citizens of Wonderland and Auradon didn't want me around because of my mother." I saw multiple heroines looking at me with pity, including my father, Fairy Godmother, The royal family, and I think that I even saw Alice.

  "What are you even saying? Stay away from her! You both!"

  "Don't do this, Chad." Ben tried to diffuse the tension.

  "What? They were raised by their parents, Ben. What do you think villains teach their kids? Huh? Kindness? Fair play? No way, okay? Uh-uh. You stole another girl's boyfriend. Oh. You enjoy hurting people. You keep making big deals out of nothing and you are overly emotional. And you, you're nothing but a gold digger and a cheater." At least Carlos, who was far away, didn't hear his insults.

  "Mirror, mirror, in my hand, who's the biggest jerk in the land?"

  "What? Come on!" And before anyone could do anything, Flynn ran up to him and punched him, square in the nose. Jay joined in, Chad was looking quite pathetic. The words that he said really hurt, though. Evie then sprayed a blue substance to him and the 4 other villain kids ran away. I ran away too, also crying this time. I saw out of the corner of my eye, Alex, Ben and Flynn getting scolded by their parents. I also saw my father trying to follow me. I ran into the forest and didn't come out until I saw the sun set. Maybe I was being dramatic, but all this was a lot for me.